Rand Paul on State of the Union Address: There was a "subtle threat"
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said there was a "subtle threat" in President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address: "Do it or else."
Paul said the president's increased focus on and use of executive orders points to the bigger questions about the nature of democracy and checks and balances in government.
"Democracy is
messy," Paul said. "Democracy involves debate, of always going back
and forth and trying to convince people on the other side to come your way and
so really saying, 'I've got a pen and a phone,' there is a certain amount of arrogance
to that."
Turning to his recent comments about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky -- that the former president exhibited "predatory" behavior toward then-intern Monica Lewinsky, Paul said, "I would say is there's been a lot of talk of a war on women and I am very concerned that we treat -- and women be treated equally and fairly in the workplace. And one of the worst things that can happen is if your boss takes advantage of you in the workplace. And so really, for all these people who stand up for Bill Clinton and say he's a greatest thing since sliced bread, he was a serial philanderer, but he also is someone who took advantage of women in the workplace. … Many of the Democrats today still defend him and think he's the greatest thing, but he was a person who took advantage of a young girl in the workplace and I think that's inexcusable and that kind of war on women should end."
Asked what he thinks
that has to do with Hillary Clinton's potential bid for the presidency, Paul
said "it's hard to separate them."
"It's not her fault," Paul said. "She's had to tolerate the same sort of problems from him, I guess, over time, but I would say that it's more a question of the entire Democratic Party who says there's a war on women and that somehow the other party's committing this and yet they support and defend a guy who really in the workplace was doing something inexcusable, should not be tolerated. So really there's a question of hypocrisy. People don't like hypocrisy. We'll see. I don't know if it makes any difference now."
For more from this interview, watch his full "CTM" appearance above.